Sankore Rulebook

The Pride of
Mansa Musa
Game Rules
Fabio Lopiano &
Mandela Fernández-Grandon
Ian O’Toole
The Pride of
Mansa Musa
Game design: Fabio Lopiano and Mandela Fernández-Grandon
Illustration and graphic design: Ian O’Toole
Game development: Anthony Howgego and Rhys Ap Gwyn
Cultural Consultants: Mauro Nobili and Zain Alam
Solo mode development: David Digby
Rule book editing: David Digby
First published in Great Britain in 2023 by OSPREY GAMES Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Kemp House, Chawley Park, Cumnor Hill, Oxford OX2 9PH, UK 1385 Broadway, 5th Floor, New York, NY 10018, USA
OSPREY GAMES is a trademark of Osprey Publishing Ltd
© Fabio Lopiano & Mandela Fernández-Grandon, 2023. This edition © 2023 Osprey Publishing Ltd All rights reserved.
www.ospreygames.co.uk
For more information or replacement parts, email [email protected] 2324252627 10987654321
2
The year is 1325.
Mansa Musa has just returned from his pilgrimage to Mecca and is determined
to see the University of Timbuktu gain the recognition it deserves.
You, the master of one of the schools, are gifted gold beyond your
imagination and the support of the Mali Empire to bring
your school, and the University, to worldwide renown.
By enrolling and graduating your students, teaching classes, adding to your
curriculum, and filling the great library with books, you will advance knowledge
in different academic disciplines. Once construction of the university is
complete, the value that the empire places on each discipline will be decided,
and your academic legacy will be judged. Can you navigate this fast-changing
world of scholarly competition?
In Sankoré: The pride of Mansa Musa, players recruit students into their school,
and teach classes in four disciplines:
Theology, Law, Mathematics, and Astronomy
By teaching classes, players earn prestige in those disciplines.
There are three main currencies in the game that are spent when teaching classes:
salt, gold, and books. Books are associated with specific disciplines, and when
spent, are placed in the Sankoré library area. The distribution of books in the
library area at the end of the game determines the value of prestige in each
discipline. The player whose school is the most prestigious at the end
of the game wins.
3
GAME COMPONENTS
You don’t need to read this section first!
Skip ahead to page 8 to start learning the game
and refer back to this section as needed.
24× Gold
tokens
16× Salt
tokens
8× Inspiration 1× First
tokens
Player
marker
1× Game board
1× Double-sided Library board
4
32× Favour
tiles
24× Objective cards
40× Skill tiles
1× Cloth
bag
In sets of Discipline colours
Astronomy
Law
Theology
In sets of player colours
Mathematics
4× Student Queue tiles
(1 of each discipline, used in 2 or 3-player games)
4× Player boards
(1 of each player colour)
52× Book tokens
(13 of each discipline)
60× Prestige tokens 32× Student
meeples
(15 of each discipline)
(7 of each discipline)
16× Graduation tiles
(1 of each player colour)
4× Player Aid cards
4× Camels
28× Crowns
28× Mosques
28× Trading Posts
28× Wall pieces
(4 of each discipline)
(1 of each player colour)
(4 of each discipline, in levels 1-4)
(7 of each player colour)
16× Introductory
Class tiles
(1 of each player colour)
4× Favour discs
(8 of each discipline)
28× Sankoré tiles
4× Resource boards
40× Advanced
Class tiles
(10 of each discipline, in levels 1-3)
(7 of each player colour)
(7 of each player colour)
(7 of each player colour)
5
TERMINOLOGY REFERENCE
You don’t need to read this section first!
Skip ahead to page 8 to start learning the game
and refer back to this section as needed.
MAIN BOARD
Astronomy
Favour track
Port City
(each with 3 Trading
Post spaces)
Scoring area
(Astronomy 1 of 4)
Graduation area
(all Disciplines)
Trading
Post space
Student Queue (Astronomy)
Theology
Scoring area
(Theology 1 of 4)
Mosque
space
Sankoré Madrasa
6
Scoring area
(Law 1 of 4)
Crown
space
Scoring area
(Mathematics 1 of 4)
Wall
spaces
Student Queue (Theology)
Law
Mathematics
Student Queue (Mathematics)
Law Overflow space
1 of 4 (Theology)
Student Queue (Law)
PLAYER BOARD
RESOURCE BOARD
Skill tokens:
Law
Skill tokens:
Astronomy
Prestige storage
Bookshelf
Resource storage
Graduation slots
Graduation holding slots
Trading Post
supply
Crown supply
Advanced Class space
Student spaces
Mosque supply
Wall supply
Graduation Level
indicator
Starting Class space
Skill tokens:
Theology
Skill tokens:
Mathematics
7
GAME SETUP
21
Astronomy
7c
7b
7d
4b
7a
4c
10
4a
4d
5a
22
Theology
6
9a
2
Law
Mathematics
4e
4f
4j
4g
4m
5c
5d
Common Setup
1.Place the game board in the centre of the play area.
It is divided into 4 areas: Astronomy, Theology,
Mathematics, and Law.
2.Place the Library board next to the game board 2 .
For an introductory game, place the Library board with
the 3-shelf side face up (pictured).
For a more advanced game, place the Library board with the
6-shelf side face up.
3.2- and 3-players
Place the 4 Student Queue tiles on the matching areas of
the board, with the side matching the player count showing
(indicated with 2 or 3 white dots). In a 4-player game, return
these to the box and use the Student areas printed on the game
board itself.
4.Place the Book and Prestige tokens into the 4 green scoring boxes in each area of the board
(scoring areas are labeled A to D in each area
4a – 4p ). In each area place 4 Prestige
tokens matching the indicated discipline,
and one of each type of Book token.
5.Place 2 Prestige tokens onto each Student Queue on the indicated spaces, each with
an orange background 5a – 5h .
4o
4l
5e
9c
5f
17a
17b
4h
9b
4n
4k
11
4i
8
5b
4p
9d
5g
5h
6.Add all remaining Book tokens to the cloth bag.
Draw 13 and place them on the spaces in the Theology area at random 6 . Place the remaining
23 Book tokens in a general supply next to the game
board.
7.Add all remaining Prestige tokens to the cloth bag.
Draw 8 and place them in the matching spaces on the
leftmost 4 cities of the Astronomy area (Marrakesh,
Fez, Tunis, and Tripoli) 7a – 7d . Place the
remaining 28 Prestige tokens in a general supply next
to the game board.
8.Depending on the number of players, put Student meeples in
the cloth bag as follows:
2-players: 5 meeples per colour
3-players: 6 meeples per colour
4-players: 7 meeples per colour
Set aside remaining Student meeples for now.
9.Draw the Student meeples from the bag one by one and place
them on the Student Queues in all 4 areas. Place from left to
right, starting from the spaces marked with the higher values
and leaving the +1 in each area empty 9a – 9d .
17c
17d
17e
29
30
10.Place the Graduation tiles in the appropriate spaces in the
Graduation area of the game board 10 . Each column holds
tokens of a single discipline and each row holds tokens of a
particular level, with level 1 at the bottom, level 2 above that,
and so on.
11.Separate the 4 Sankoré tiles shown here. Place them at
random on the unnumbered
spaces of the Sankoré
Madrasa in the Mathematics
area, with the side showing Prestige
face-down 11 .
12.Place the 12 Sankoré tiles showing Prestige on both sides into a general
supply next to the game board.
13.Add the 12 remaining Sankoré tiles to the cloth bag.
Draw and place them at random, on the 12 matching spaces of
the game board, with the Prestige side face-down. There are 4
spaces in each
of the Astronomy, Theology, and Law areas, examples
of which are shown below.
18a
18b
23a
26
23c
31
28
14
19
1 tile × column
3 tiles × column
1 tile × column
4 tiles × column
1 tile × column
23b
Level
1
Player Setup
Starting Draft
18.Give each player a player board 18a and a resource board
18b . Place the 2 boards side by side to form a complete player
board.
29.Place a Student meeple of the matching colour from the
general supply on top of each Advanced Class tile on the
bottom row of the Advanced Class tile market 29 .
19.Determine a first player at random and give them the first
player marker 19 . Play will proceed clockwise from the first
player.
30.Place a Book token of each colour into the cloth bag and draw
them to randomly assign them to each of these Advanced Class
tiles so that each Book token is placed with an Advanced Class
tile of a different colour 30 .
20.Give each player all the components of their chosen colour.
14.Sort all of the Skill tiles into stacks for each icon and place
them in a general supply next to the game board 14 .
15.Place the Inspiration, Gold, and Salt tokens and Favour tiles in
a general supply next to the game board.
16.Sort the Advanced Class tiles into 12 stacks by discipline and
level. Shuffle each stack of level 1 and level 2 tiles separately.
17.Form the Advanced Class market by placing the tiles in 4
columns (1 for each discipline) and 5 rows
(2 levels 1s, 2 level 2s, and 1 level 3) as follows:
A.Place the 4 level 3 Advanced Class tiles in a row in any
order 17a
B.Place the matching level 2 tiles into a stack below
the level 3 tiles 17b
C.Place the top level 2 tile of each stack in a row below
the stacks of level 2 tiles 17c
D.Place the matching level 1 tiles into a stack below
the level 2 tiles 17d
E.Place the top level 1 tile of each stack in a row below the
stacks of level 1 tiles 17e .
25
27
Level
3
Level
2
23d
21.Place the Favour disc on the starting space of the
Favour track on the game board 21 .
22.Place the Camel on the Timbuktu space of the Astronomy
area of the game board 22 .
23.Place the Crowns, Mosques, Trading Posts, and Wall pieces on
the corresponding spaces of the player board 23a – 23d .
24.If there are fewer than 4 players, return all the unused player
components to the box.
25.Each player takes a number of Favour tiles equal to the number
of players and places them at the bottom of their Prestige
storage 25 .
26.Shuffle the Objective cards and deal 4 cards to each player 26 .
Return the rest to the box.
31.Starting with the first player and proceeding clockwise, each
player may choose one of these combinations of Advanced
Class tile, Book token, and Student meeple, and add them to
their player board.
The Advanced Class tile may be placed on any space on
the second row. The Book token must be added to your
Bookshelf 31 . The Student must be placed below the
matching Introductory Class tile. At this point you may reorder your Introductory Class tiles.
Fill the gaps in the bottom row of the Advanced Class tile
market by dealing the top tiles from the stacks above.
32.Return any remaining Book tokens to the supply. The Student
meeples that were not chosen are removed from the game.
You are now ready to begin the game.
27.Each player takes 1 set of Introductory Class tiles (one of each
discipline), and places them in the Introductory Class spaces
on their player board in an order of their choice 27 .
28.Each player takes 1 Inspiration token, 2 Gold tokens, and 1
Salt token, and places them in the resource storage area to the
side of their Resource board 28 .
Inspiration, Gold, and Salt are collectively referred
to as resources. These components are not meant to
be limited and, should you run out, use a suitable
substitute. You are, however, limited to how many
you can hold in your resource storage at the end of
your turn. Your resource board shows a reminder of
these limits.
9
Historical note
GAMEPLAY
Sankoré is played over a series of player turns, starting with the first player and proceeding clockwise
around the table. On their turn, a player carries out the following steps:
1. Take up to two DIFFERENT main actions and any number of bonus actions, in any order.
The community of scholars that built up around the Sankoré mosque wrote and collected hundreds
of thousands of manuscripts, a collection second only to the Great Library of Alexandria. It was
common for the schools to house libraries of their own as well as using the personal collections held
by their scholars. To this day, work continues to preserve these collections, with the main library,
the Ahmed Baba Institute, hosting around 43,000 manuscripts.
2. Perform end of turn checks.
Play continues until 12 Sankoré tiles (see below) have been placed in the numbered spaces of the
Sankoré Madrasa (the central grid in the Mathematics area) and all players have taken the same
number of turns. Once the final Sankoré token has been placed, play proceeds until the player to the
right of the first player has taken their turn, at which point the game ends.
At the end of the game, the distribution of Book tokens in the Library area determines the value of
each Prestige token in each discipline (see page 19). The player who has the highest total value of
Prestige wins the game.
SANKORÉ TILES
During some actions you will unlock Sankoré
tiles. Whenever you take an action that unlocks
a Sankoré tile, immediately place it in the
lowest-numbered available space in the Sankoré
Madrasa, with the Prestige (star) side facing
down, and take the placement bonus shown on the tile.
For details of all the icons found on Sankoré tiles see the Appendix on the back page.
1
the tile is placed in the Sankoré Madrasa.
2
1 Placement
bonus: The bonus gained when
2 Prestige:
This counts as a Prestige icon in the
end-game scoring of the Sankoré Madrasa.
3
Front
Back
3 Discipline.
BOOKS
Books correspond to one of the 4 disciplines. They are gained and spent through various actions.
Books are strictly limited; if you are instructed to gain a particular Book from the supply and
there are no Books of the matching type in the supply, you instead gain nothing.
When you gain a Book, place it in the matching area of your Bookshelf on your Resource board.
If you cannot fit the new Book, because you already have 3 of that discipline, you do not gain the
Book token.
Some actions require you to contribute Books to the Library.
When you contribute a Book, take it from the Bookshelf on your player board. Choose a Library
shelf with an empty space and add the Book to the leftmost empty space of your chosen shelf.
PRESTIGE
When you gain a Prestige token, take the token and place it in the Prestige storage area of your Resource board. Your
Prestige token storage is limited and affected by the number
of Favour tiles you hold. If you gain a Prestige token and your
storage is already full, you may choose which tokens to keep.
Any excess is returned to the general supply. Prestige tokens
are strictly limited; if you are instructed to gain a Prestige
token from the supply and there are no tokens of the
matching type in the supply, you gain nothing.
Prestige icons printed on Graduation tiles, Objective cards, Sankoré tiles, and player boards
count as additional Prestige tokens during end-game scoring. Prestige earned in this way does not
take up space in your Prestige storage area.
MAIN ACTIONS
On your turn you may take up to 2 different main actions. The available main actions are:
1. Enrol a Student
2. Establish an Advanced Class
3. Teach a Class
4. Graduate a Student
5. Exchange a Favour
ACTION: Enrol A Student
Take the rightmost student from any one of the 4 Student Queues.
Place it on your player board in the Student space underneath the
Introductory Class of the corresponding discipline.
You cannot choose a Student if the required space on your player board is full.
If the Student you chose had a
below it, immediately perform the Exchange a Favour action.
This does not count as a main action on your turn (see page 12).
If the Student you chose had a Book scoring icon (see Student Queues diagram, next page) to the left,
resolve a Book majority scoring at the end of this turn (see page 17).
If the Student you chose had a
below it, immediately take a matching Sankoré tile from the
supply and place it in the Sankoré Madrasa area on the lowest-numbered empty space. Then, gain a
Prestige token of the same discipline.
The distribution of Books in the Library determines the value of Prestige of each discipline at the
end of the game (see page 19).
10
If the Student you chose had a Prestige scoring icon (see Student Queues diagram, next page) to the
left, resolve a Prestige majority scoring at the end of this turn (see page 17).
There is a Prestige token to the right of each space with a majority scoring icon. These Prestige tokens
are moved to the appropriate Overflow space in the Law area when majority scoring is resolved.
ACTION: Teach a Class
STUDENT QUEUES
Prestige scoring
Book scoring
Discipline
Student spaces
This is the most common action that you will take in Sankoré, allowing you
to take area actions, placing your pieces in the various areas of the
main board.
Shared knowledge
values
Choose a Class tile with at least 1 Student meeple in the Student spaces directly below it.
Then resolve the following steps:
1.Activate Student: Choose 1 Student meeple in the Class to activate.
Move this Student meeple onto the Class tile. Place the Student meeple
so that it covers the top right box, containing the class level.
Bonus
Sankoré Tile
Bonus Exchange
a Favour action
Prestige token moves to Law area
after majority scoring is resolved
ACTION: Establish
an Advanced Class
Contribute 1 Book token to the Library to take any one of
the visible Advanced Class tiles (including the top tile of
stacks) of the matching discipline from the supply and place
it in a Class space on your player board. Each Advanced
Class tile shows you in which spaces the tile may be placed.
Level 1 Advanced Class tiles may be placed anywhere.
2.Activate matching Skill tokens: If you are teaching an Advanced Class,
activate any Skill tokens in the Skill section matching the class’s discipline
(see below).
3.Take the Student reward: All Class tiles show a Student reward.
You gain this reward only if the active Student matches the discipline
of the Class. If the active Student does not match, skip this step.
Placing a Mathematics
Student onto a
matching Class tile
activates the Student
Reward (1 Book token).
4.Area action: Perform an Area action in the board area matching the class
discipline (see page 14). Some Area actions will not be available unless you
teach a Class with both Student spaces below it occupied (see Supported Classes, page 12).
5.Promote activated Student: Move the activated Student to an empty Student space above their
current Class tile by following the arrows printed on the player board (see play example below).
A Student may move to an empty Student space even if there is no Class tile above that space. If
there are no empty Student spaces above the chosen Class tile, the activated Student is instead
returned to the box. Students in one of the topmost four Student spaces will be worth 1 Prestige
of their discipline during end game scoring as shown on the player board.
Historical note
Students in Timbuktu were expected to apply their knowledge throughout their studies. As such,
they would also do work in their chosen area, practising their skills as they learn.
Level 2 Advanced Class tiles may only be placed in the top 2 rows.
Level 3 Advanced Class tiles may only be placed in the top space.
Discipline
Class Level
Each Advanced Class tile costs 1 Book,
regardless of its level or where you place it.
You may place an Advanced Class tile on any
Space for space shown on the tile, even if there are no
active
classes in spaces beneath it. You may choose
student to place an Advanced Class tile in a space that
already has another Class tile in it. If you do,
return the original Class tile to the box.
PLAY EXAMPLE: PROMOTE ACTIVATED STUDENT
Blue has just completed their area action for their Mathematics Class, and now must promote their
Mathematics Student 1 . There are 2 possible paths from the Mathematics Class tile, one going
left to the space below the empty Class tile space 2 , and the other going right to the space below
the Theology Class tile 3 .
Since the latter space is already occupied by a Law Student 4 , Blue moves their Mathematics
Student along the left arrow to the empty space.
If you cannot contribute a Book of the
required discipline to the Library, you cannot
take a Class tile of that discipline.
Skill activation
Student reward
If you take a tile from below either the level
1 or level 2 stacks, replace it with the top tile
of the matching stack so that there are always
2 available tiles of each level and discipline
on display in the market, providing at least 2
such tiles remain.
4
2
3
1
11
PLAY EXAMPLE: GRADUATE A STUDENT
SKILL TOKENS
Skills tokens are primarily acquired as part of the Law area action, and are added to the Skill
sections on your player board.
1
The action taken may dictate which discipline’s Skill section a Skill token is added to. If not, you
may choose which Skill section to add a Skill token to. Each discipline may have up to 3 associated
Skill tokens at a time. When adding Skill tokens, players may always replace existing tokens but,
once placed, they cannot be moved to a different Skill section. Replaced Skill tokens are discarded
to the box.
When teaching an Advanced Class, players take all bonuses from Skill tokens in the Skill section
matching the Class’s discipline. For details of all the icons found on Skill tokens see the Icon
appendix on the back page.
PLAY EXAMPLE:
SKILL TOKENS
2
SUPPORTED CLASSES
4
When completing an Area Action, some spaces
will be off limits unless you are teaching a
Supported Class.
Teaching a Supported Class means that both
Student spaces below that Class tile must be
occupied. There is still only 1 active Student, and
that Student will be the one promoted to the
next level after the Class is taught.
TIP
While only 1 Student is activated and moved
onto the Class tile during the Activate
Student step, the second student may enter
the class during the Area action step.
This still counts as a Supported Class.
Red teaches a Mathematics Class and gains 1
Salt and 1 Gold from the Skill tokens in their
Mathematics Skill section.
ACTION:
Graduate a Student
Blue wishes to Graduate a Student. They have 2 Students currently on level 2 spaces, as indicated
by the Graduation level icon next to them 1 . The Mathematics Student (teal) can only claim a
level 1 Graduation tile, as the matching level 2 has already been claimed 2 . However, the Law
(orange) level 2 Graduation tile is still available 3 , so Blue decides to claim this one. In order to
do so, they must contribute a matching Law Book to the Library. Having done so, Blue claims the
Graduation tile, adding it to a Graduation slot on the top of their player board and placing the
Graduating Student on the tile 4 .
Historical note
The curriculum of Sankoré had 4 levels of schooling or “degrees”. On graduating from each level,
students would receive a turban symbolising their mastery.
TIP
When graduating a Student, if the corresponding Graduation tile has already been claimed, you
may take a lower level Graduation tile from the same discipline.
ACTION: Exchange a Favour
To graduate a Student, follow these steps in order:
1. Choose 1 Student on your player board.
They cannot be in the bottom row of Student spaces.
Choose to either Take a Favour OR Return a Favour. Both count as a
version of the same action and you must take 2 different actions on your
turn. Therefore you cannot perform both versions as 2 separate actions on
the same turn.
2.
Contribute 1 Book matching the Student’s discipline to the Library.
3. C
laim the highest level Graduation tile available that is equal to or lower than the level of the
graduating Student and that matches its discipline. The level of the graduating Student can be seen
next to their current space on the player board.
4.
Place the Graduation tile into one of the slots on the top edge of your player board.
5.
Place the Student on top of the Graduation tile.
If there are no Graduation tiles that meet this criteria or you cannot contribute a Book of the required
discipline, you cannot graduate the chosen Student. Instead, you must choose a different Student or
take a different action. You also cannot complete this action if you do not have any empty slots to add
a Graduation tile to.
If a player takes the last Graduation tile from any
of the four disciplines, they place the matching
Sankoré tile (as indicated at the bottom of each
column on the board) into the Sankoré Madrasa. As usual when placing a Sankoré tile, they
immediately claim the reward on the token (as well as 1 matching Prestige token, if still available).
During end-game scoring, each player receives the Prestige token printed on the Graduation tiles they
have claimed.
3
TAKE A FAVOUR
Choose and gain 1 reward from the space on the Favour track directly below your Favour marker, or
any space to the left. For details of all the icons found on the Favour track see the Icon appendix on
the back page.
Take 1 Favour tile from the general supply. Place it so it covers the 2 lowest Prestige spaces on your
player board. This will limit the number of Prestige tokens you can store, and therefore how much
Prestige you can score at the end of the game.
TIP
Favour tiles limit the amount of Prestige tokens you can have on your player board.
RETURN A FAVOUR
Return the uppermost Favour tile from your player board to the general supply.
12
PLAY EXAMPLE: TAKE A FAVOUR
1
2
3
Red needs some resources, so
decides to Take a Favour. Their
Favour disk is on the fourth space of
the Favour Track, meaning they can
claim any of the first 4 rewards. The
options available to them are:
BONUS ACTION:
Promote a Student
Spend 1 Inspiration token and choose any Student on your player board that is occupying a Student
space directly below a Class tile. If there is no Class tile in the space above, you must choose a different
Student. Move the chosen Student meeple to an empty Student space in the level above, moving it
through the Class tile it is currently below. You must follow the arrows indicated on the player board.
The Student space you move the Student into does not need to have a Class tile above it.
BONUS ACTION:
Write a Book
1. 1 Gold OR 1 Salt
2. 1 Book of any discipline
3.1 Student of any discipline
(from any space on any
Student Queue)
Spend 1 Inspiration token to take 1 Book of any discipline from the supply and place it in an empty
space on your Bookshelf.
BONUS ACTION:
Complete an Objective Card
4. 2 Gold
Red decides to take 2 Gold 1 .
They place a Favour token on their
resource board 2 , reducing
the spaces they have available for
Prestige tokens, before adding 2
Gold to their storage next to their
resource board 3 .
Choose an Objective card in your hand that you have met the requirements for and complete it by
placing it face up in front of you. Completed Objective cards give you access to abilities that you may
use during your turn and gain you Prestige at the end of the game. See Icon Appendix on the back
page for clarifications on more complex card abilities.
Usage
Requirement
FAVOUR TRACK
The
icon allows you to move your Favour disc 1 space to the right along the Favour
track. This represents the recognition gained from Mansa Musa for enhancing the reputation of
Timbuktu. The higher the esteem Mansa Musa has for you, the greater the favours he will be
willing to grant you when asked. If your marker is already in the rightmost space of the track, you
gain no benefit from any further moves along on the track.
BONUS ACTIONS
You may take any number of bonus actions on your turn. These may be completed before or after
either of your main actions but not during. You cannot interrupt the resolution of a main action
by taking a bonus action.
BONUS ACTION:
Transfer a Student
You may use these abilities whenever
you perform an Area action
matching the indicated discipline
You may use this
ability once per
round (does not
count towards 2
main actions)
This is a passive
ability that is
always active
Ability
Prestige
TIP
Objective cards will give you some direction at the beginning of the game. It is recommended to
pay attention to your Objective cards when making decisions so that you can complete them as
soon as possible. The abilities and requirements of the cards will help shape your strategy.
Spend 1 Inspiration token and choose a Student at level 1 or above. Move the chosen Student meeple
to any empty Student space at the same level as the one it is in currently.
TIP
Inspiration tokens provide more flexibility with your students, letting you move them around for
more effective Teach a Class main actions.
13
AREA ACTIONS
PLAY EXAMPLE: KNOWLEDGE AND COSTS
Blue is teaching a Theology class 1 .
Their School Knowledge is 2 (Blue has
already taught 2 Theology classes) 2 ,
the Shared Knowledge of Theology is +3
(shown on the Student Queue) 3 , and
the Advanced Class they are teaching has
a class bonus of +2 4 . This gives them
a total Knowledge of 7.
An Area action is part of the Teach a Class main action and relates to one of the 4 areas of the game
board; Astronomy, Theology, Mathematics, or Law.
The actions use Knowledge to place Trading Posts, Mosques, Wall pieces, and Crowns from your
player board into the corresponding areas of the game board.
Trading Posts are placed in
the Astronomy area.
1
Wall pieces are placed in
the Mathematics area.
Mosques are placed in the
Theology area.
Crowns are placed in the
Law area.
2
Knowledge & Costs
Each space in each area has a requirement that must be met using the Knowledge available to the
player when taking the action. Spaces also have an additional resource cost.
In order to meet the Knowledge requirement, the player must meet or exceed the value indicated on
the space by totalling their School Knowledge, Shared Knowledge, and any Class bonuses for the
relevant discipline.
SCHOOL
KNOWLEDGE
This is the highest
revealed number on
your player board where
the corresponding pieces
are stored.
4
Blue has enough Knowledge to place a
Mosque in the Aoudaghost space, which
requires 7 Knowledge 5 . However,
placing here also requires them to be
teaching a Supported Class with 2
Students, which they are not. Instead,
they choose to place a Mosque in the
Djenne space, which has a Knowledge
requirement of 5 6 . This also costs 2
Salt, and gains Blue the rewards from
the space (more details on these rewards
later).
SHARED KNOWLEDGE
This is the highest revealed number on
the Student Queue in the relevant area.
The Shared Knowledge shown here is 4.
5
The School Knowledge
shown below is 3.
6
CLASS BONUS
These may be found on
the Class tile being taught.
The Class Bonus shown
here is 2.
Remember that this bonus
only applies if the Student
and the Class tile are of the
same discipline!
TOTAL KNOWLEDGE
In this case, the total Astronomy Knowledge
available to this player is 9 (3+4+2).
ADDITIONAL COSTS AND REQUIREMENTS
All spaces have extra costs and/or requirements in addition to the Knowledge requirement.
These costs and requirements are indicated on a red carpet, as shown in the examples below. Some
high value spaces will also require a Supported Class (see page 12), which is indicated with
2 meeples, as shown below.
Note that when a red carpet passes beneath
multiple spaces, its cost applies to ALL of
those spaces.
When multiple costs and requirements are
shown, they must all be satisfied in order to
access the space. In the example shown above, both Law spaces require 1 book and a Supported Class.
The space on the left requires 7 Law Knowledge, while the space on the right requires 8.
14
3
Area Action: Astronomy
PLAY EXAMPLE: ASTRONOMY
The Astronomy Area action allows you to move your Camel along paths on the map. The map is
divided into 4 regions, marked A–D. Each path shows the Knowledge requirement to move along
it. A Camel may move multiple steps as part of a single Astronomy Area action, as long as your total
Knowledge is equal to or greater than the sum of Knowledge requirements along the route. Your
Camel may move through another Camel or Trading Post but must end its movement in an otherwise
empty Oasis.
Yellow teaches an Astronomy class with 2 Students, activating the Astronomy Student. They have
a total Knowledge of 4, which is enough to move their Camel 1 the 2 steps from their current
Oasis to the Port City of Fez 2 .
When teaching future Astronomy classes, you may either continue from the current position of your
Camel, or start anew from Timbuktu at the start of the Astronomy area.
Whenever your Camel stops at an Oasis, you must spend 1 Gold to place a Trading Post from your
player board onto that Oasis space, and then gain 2 Salt.
As they are the first player to cross the dotted line
in region A, they take the associated
Sankoré tile 3 , and place it in the Sankoré Madrasa, gaining the placement bonus shown on the
tile (1 Inspiration).
They spend 2 Gold to place a Trading Post in one of the 3 available spaces in Fez. Placing it on
the middle space gains them a Theology Prestige token 4 . They then move their Camel back to
Timbuktu and end their action.
If your Camel is the first to cross one of the dotted lines
, take the Sankoré tile from the
region and place it in the lowest available space of the Sankoré Madrasa, gaining the placement bonus
shown.
To travel to one of the 8 Port Cities (example pictured right),
you must be teaching a Supported Class. You have a choice of 3
spaces in which to place your Trading Post, each of which gives a
different bonus. Trading Posts in Port Cities cost 2 or 3 Gold
each (as indicated on the board) rather than 1. Each space may
only be claimed by 1 player, but the same or different players
may place another Trading Post on a different space in the same
Port City. After establishing a Trading Post in one of the Port
Cities, you must immediately return your Camel to Timbuktu.
The rightmost space in both Suakin and Zeila allow you to place a Wall piece in the Mathematics area
without paying any cost. The Wall piece may be placed in the top left corner, dark blue-coloured space,
which is the only way to place a Wall piece in that space. You do not flip a Sankoré tile when placing a
Wall piece in this way. The rightmost spaces in the remaining Port Cities all reward you with Skill tiles,
which may be placed in any discipline.
2
4
Historical note
Trans-Saharan routes revolved around the gold-salt trade.
Gold was abundant in the south of the Empire and in high demand outside. Salt was mined in
the Sahara and very valuable in the cities, where it was critical for food preservation.
Long caravans would travel across the desert carrying bags of gold and returning with blocks of
salt.
3
1
Caravans travelled for several weeks, moving at night and resting during the day.
Advances in astronomy made it possible to travel accurately between distant watering holes and
trading posts.
Through travel, the empire strengthened its relationship with the wider Muslim world, exchanging
knowledge and gaining access to a rich history of theological studies. This, in turn, helped foster
stronger relationships with Muslim neighbours and opened up new trade routes.
When the caravans reached the far away cities along the coasts of Africa they would return not
only with precious goods, but also with eminent scholars from local universities who would often
join the University of Sankoré as teachers.
15
Area Action: Theology
Area Action: Mathematics
The Theology Area action allows you to place Mosques on empty spaces in the Theology Area. This
area has 4 regions, A–D, each containing 2 cities. Each space has a Knowledge requirement and a
Salt cost; spaces in the bottom row of each section cost 1 Salt, spaces in the middle row cost 2 Salt,
and spaces in the top row cost 3 Salt. In addition, to place in the top row, you must be teaching a
Supported Class.
The Mathematics Area action allows you to place Wall pieces around the perimeter of the Sankoré
Madrasa. There are 2 horizontal walls, A and C, and 2 vertical walls, B and D. Each space requires you
to contribute to the Library; spaces in the horizontal walls cost 1 Book of any discipline, and spaces
in the vertical walls cost 2 Books of any 2 different disciplines. In addition, you must be teaching a
Supported Class to place in the vertical walls. You cannot choose a space that already has a Wall piece
in it.
Placing a Mosque on the lower 2 rows of the Theology area gains you the Book token in that space.
Placing a Mosque in the middle row also activates all the Skill tokens in the indicated Skill section of
your player board.
Placing a Mosque in the top row has 2 possible rewards. The left-hand space in each City gains you
the depicted Skill tile. You must place the Skill tile in the indicated discipline’s Skill section. The
right-hand space in each City allows you to add a Student of a particular discipline to the Sankoré
Madrasa. This Student can either come from on top of a Graduation tile or from your player board. It
is placed on the space that corresponds to the Student’s discipline. When placed, you immediately gain
a Prestige token for each visible Prestige icon
of the same discipline in the Sankoré
Madrasa.
Additionally, the first player to place a Mosque in the top row City in each region, adds the Sankoré
tile from that City into the Sankoré Madrasa.
PLAY EXAMPLE: THEOLOGY
Blue teaches a Theology class with 2 Students, activating the Theology Student. They have a total
Knowledge of 10. Blue spends 3 Salt and places a Mosque in Tadmekka 1 .
Whenever you place a Wall piece, choose any 1 Sankoré tile in the column or row aligned with the
Wall piece you just placed that is still Prestige-side down. Immediately gain the bonus shown, then flip
the token to its Prestige side.
You gain 1 Gold for each
Sankoré tile or not.
along the selected row or column, regardless of whether you flipped a
PLAY EXAMPLE: MATHEMATICS
Red teaches a Mathematics class with a total Knowledge of 4. They place a Wall piece on the
number 4 space of the top horizontal wall 1 , contributing a Book to the Library from their
Bookshelf.
They choose the top Sankoré tile in the same column as their Wall piece 2 , gaining
the placement bonus shown on the tile (a Favour action) and then flipping the tile.
Finally, for each
icon in that column they collect 1 Gold, for a total of 2.
As the first player to place a Mosque in Tadmekka, Blue immediately places the Sankoré tile 2 in
the Sankoré Madrasa, gaining the placement bonus shown on the tile (1 Inspiration). They then
gain the bonus shown on the Tadmekka space 3 , moving an Astronomy Student from their
player board into one of the special Theology spaces in the Sankoré Madrasa 4 . Blue gains 2
Astronomy Prestige tokens from the supply, as there are 2 Astronomy Prestige icons showing in the
Sankoré Madrasa.
2
2
1
3
4
16
1
Area Action: Law
The Law Area action allows you to place Crowns on empty spaces in the Law Area. This area has
four regions, A–D, each corresponding to one of the 4 disciplines. Each space has a Knowledge
requirement and an additional cost depending on its row; spaces in the bottom row of each region cost
1 Gold, spaces in the middle row cost 1 Salt, and spaces in the top row cost 1 Book of any discipline.
In addition, to place a Crown in the top row, you must be teaching a Supported Class.
Placing a Crown on any space in the Law area gains you the Skill token shown (see page 12), which
must be placed in the Skill section of that region’s discipline (indicated by the ribbon hanging over the
Skill token icon - see example below). The first player to place a Crown in one of the top 2 rows of any
discipline region then places the Sankoré tile in the Sankoré Madrasa and takes its placement bonus.
Finally, when placing a Crown in the top row, you collect any Prestige tokens and Books present in the
Overflow space immediately above it.
END OF TURN
Check Majority Scoring
If, during your turn, you took a Student meeple from a Student space like either of the two pictured
here, you trigger a majority scoring for the
corresponding area. Book and Prestige majority
scoring are resolved in the same way.
Each of the 4 discipline areas of the board contain 4
regions, marked A–D. When a scoring triggers for an area, identify which player has the most pieces in
each region. In the case of a tie between 2 or more players, the player whose piece is on the highestnumbered space will win the majority.
PLAY EXAMPLE: LAW
White teaches a Law class with a total knowledge of 5. They spend 1 Salt to place a Crown on
space ‘5’ in the Theology region 1 .
First, White gains the Book Skill token shown on the space 2 , adding it to the Theology
skill section on their player board, as indicated by the ribbon hanging over the skill tile icon 3 .
Then, because they are the first to place a Crown in one of the top 2 rows of this region, they add
the corresponding Sankoré tile 4 to the Sankoré Madrasa, gaining the placement bonus shown
on the tile (Skill tile activation).
1
4
In both types of majority scoring, move the Prestige token from the Student Queue space triggering the majority
scoring to the Law area. It is placed in the Overflow area at
the top of the region matching the discipline of the area
being resolved.
During Book majority scoring, the winner of each region
gains the Book placed on the board during setup.
3
2
Overflow spaces
During Prestige majority scoring, the winner of each region
gains the Prestige token placed on the board during setup.
If no player pieces have been placed in a region, the Book
or Prestige token is instead placed in the Law area in the
Overflow space that corresponds to the discipline where
majority scoring has been triggered. Books and Prestige
tokens are also placed in this Overflow space if the majority
scoring winner does not have enough space in their
Bookshelf or Prestige storage.
17
PLAY EXAMPLE: MAJORITY SCORING
During their turn, Red takes the sixth Student from the Theology area Student Queue 1 .
At the end of their turn, Book majority scoring is triggered.
The Theology Prestige token on the Student Queue is immediately moved across into the
Theology Overflow space of the Law area 2 .
Then it is determined which player wins each region of the Theology area:
REGION A
Blue wins the
Theology Book.
REGION B
Red wins the Mathematics Book (both
players have 1 Mosque each, but Red’s
Mosque is on a higher value space).
GAME END
The end of the game is triggered when any player places the Sankoré tile that completes the Sankoré
Madrasa. Play continues until every player has had the same number of turns, then final scoring
begins.
If you need to place a Sankoré tile after the end of the game has been triggered, you may choose to
either gain the bonus and discard the token, or to keep the token in front of you with the Prestige icon
face up. This will count as 1 Prestige at the end of the game but does not need to be placed in your
Prestige storage.
Resolve Remaining Majority Scorings
First, complete any Prestige majority scorings that have not already been performed, as described on
page 17.
Assign Sankoré Madrasa Prestige
REGION C
No Mosques were
placed here, so the
Law Book moves
into the Theology
Overflow space of
the Law area.
REGION C
Blue wins the
Astronomy Book.
For each Sankoré tile in the Sankoré Madrasa with a visible Prestige icon (
), check
the number of Wall pieces in the same row and column. The player with the most Wall pieces from
amongst these takes the Sankoré tile, which counts as a Prestige token in final scoring but does not
need to be placed in their Prestige storage. In the case of a tie, the player with the highest value Wall
piece wins. If it is still a tie, the player with the Wall piece along a vertical wall wins. The Wall piece in
the corner space wins all ties.
SCORING EXAMPLE: SANKORÉ MADRASA
The diagram below shows which player each Sankoré tile is awarded to. The lines of each player’s
colour connect each Sankoré tile to the Wall pieces that contributed towards them winning it.
The Law Sankoré tile in the top left 1 has 1 yellow Wall piece in the same column, as well as 1
blue Wall piece and 1 white Wall piece in the same row. The corner space 2 wins all ties so Blue
gains the Sankoré tile.
The Astronomy Sankoré tile in the second row 3 has 1 red Wall piece 4 and 1 blue Wall piece
5 in the same column, as well as 1 yellow Wall piece 6 in the same row, creating a 3-way tie. In
the case of a tie, we look at the highest value Wall piece: the yellow Wall piece is the highest with a
value of 7, so Yellow gains the Sankoré tile.
1
4
2
2
1
6
TIP
Majority scoring always happens at the end of the turn, after you have completed all main and
bonus actions for your turn. This means that, if you trigger the Book majority scoring for an area,
you will not be able to use any of the newly gained Books until your next turn.
Check Storage Limits
You may store up to 2 Inspiration, 6 Gold, 4 Salt, and 3 Books of each discipline. These limits are
shown on your resource board. While you may exceed these limits during your turn, during the check
storage limits part of your turn, return any Inspiration, Gold, Salt, or Books for which you do not
have space to the supply.
The number of Prestige tokens you can store depends on the number of Favour tokens you have.
If you do not have space to store all your Prestige tokens, you can choose which you return to the
supply.
18
3
5
Determine Prestige Token Values
SCORING EXAMPLE: FINAL SCORING
The value of each Prestige icon is determined based on the distribution of Books in the Library. Each
discipline’s Prestige icons start with a value of 0.
This is the final state for the Blue player. They total up the number of Prestige icons for each
discipline and multiply that by the Prestige icon value.
For each shelf, determine which discipline has the most and second most Books. In the case of a tie,
the discipline that reached the tied number of Books first (placed leftmost) wins the tie.
For Theology, they have 13 Prestige icons each worth 2, for a final score of 26:
The discipline with the most Books on a shelf adds 2 points to the value of its Prestige icons. The
discipline with the second most Books adds 1 point to the value of its Prestige icons. The value of each
discipline’s Prestige icons is the total of the points it scores across all shelves.
SCORING EXAMPLE: PRESTIGE VALUES
•5 Prestige tokens 1
•4 Prestige Graduation tile 2
•1 Sankoré tile 3
•2 prestige on completed Objective cards 4
•1 revealed Prestige on the Theology area of the player board 5
For Astronomy, they have 8 Prestige icons each worth 1, for a final score of 8:
•3 Prestige tokens 1
•3 Prestige Graduation tile 2
•1 Sankoré tile 3
•1 Prestige on completed Objective cards 4
For Mathematics, they have 6 Prestige icons each worth 3, for a final score of 18:
•2 Prestige tokens 1
If this is the distribution of Books at the end of the game, the values of Prestige will be as follows:
•Theology Prestige icons are worth 2 points each (Theology Books are the most common on the
top shelf *)
•Astronomy Prestige icons are worth 1 point each (Astronomy Books are the second most
common on the top shelf *)
•Law Prestige icons are worth 3 points each (Law Books are the most common on the middle
shelf, and are the second most common on the bottom shelf )
•3 Prestige Graduation tile 2
•1 Sankoré tile 3
For Law, they have 2 Prestige icons each worth 3, for a final score of 6:
•1 Prestige token 1
•1 Prestige on completed Objective cards 2
To find their final score they add together 26 + 8 + 18 + 6, resulting in a total score of 58.
•Mathematics Prestige icons are also worth 3 points each (Mathematics Books are the most
common on the bottom shelf, and are the second most common on the middle shelf )
*Note: On the top shelf, both Theology and Astronomy have 4 Books each, but the last Theology
Book was added before the last Astronomy Book in that row, so Theology wins the tie.
3
2
2
3
3
2
ALTERNATIVE LIBRARY SETUP
1
For a more advanced setup, flip the Library board to its 6-shelf side (see setup on page 8). In
this variant, Books may be placed on any of the 6 shelves. At the end of the game, only the most
common Book type on each of the 6 shelves will count towards scoring. The winners of the larger
shelves add 2 points to the value of their discipline’s Prestige icons, and the winners of the smaller
shelves add 1 point to the value of their discipline’s Prestige icons.
1
1
1
Final Scoring
Total how many Prestige icons of each discipline you have, and multiply each total by the Prestige icon
value of the matching discipline. Prestige icons can be found by looking:
5
1. On Prestige tokens in your Prestige storage
2. On collected Sankoré tiles
3. On the 4 sections of your player board
4. On completed Objective cards
2
4
4
5. On Graduation tiles
The player with the highest total score is the winner. In the case of a tie, the player with fewer Favour
tokens in their Prestige storage is the winner. If still tied, the player with the most Prestige tokens is the
winner.
19
Gameplay Overview
SOLO MODE
In the solo mode of Sankoré, you will play against one of the great scholars of Timbuktu, who will take
turns in a different way to you. Throughout the rules “you” or “the player” refers to the human player
and “it”, “they”, or “the Scholar” refers to your automated opponent.
Historical Opponents
Easy - Muhammad Abd Allah: This is a fictional lower-level scholar.
Medium - Katib Musa: From the Tarikh al-Sudan, imam of the main mosque. The first
appointees to the imamate were Sudani jurists, who held office during Malian rule and part of
Tuareg rule. The last of their imams was the jurist Katib Musa, who was imam for forty years.
Hard - Muhammad al-Kabari: From the Tarikh al-Sudan, known as “the master of the masters”.
Very Hard - Sidi Yahya: From the Tarikh al-Sudan, referred to as a scholar from North Africa
who settled in Timbuktu in c. 1450 (contemporary to Muhammad al-Kabari) and became the
patron saint of Timbuktu.
Setup
Set up the game as per a 2-player game, with the following changes for the Scholar’s play area and
components:
1.Choose a difficulty level and locate the player board that shows your chosen difficulty level on
the reverse. Difficulty levels are shown on each player board as follows:
Easy
Medium
Hard
Very Hard
Place this player board with its solo side face up to form the Scholar’s play area.
2.After selecting your own player colour, choose a player colour for the Scholar and place the
Trading Posts, Mosques, Wall pieces, and Crowns (collectively referred to as “pieces”) on the
corresponding spaces of the solo board.
3.Place the Scholar’s Camel on the Timbuktu space of the Astronomy area.
4.Do not give the Scholar a Resource board or any starting resources.
5.Do not place the Scholar’s Favour disc on the Favour track, return it to the box instead.
6.Place the cloth bag next to the solo board; it will be used to resolve the Scholar’s later turns.
7.After shuffling the Objective cards, deal the Scholar 4 into a face-down deck. Place this deck
next to the solo board.
8.Place the Library board with the 3-shelf side face up.
9.You will act as the first player.
10.You choose your starting Advanced Class tile, Student, and Book combination as normal.
To determine which remaining combination the Scholar chooses, draw the top card from
the remaining Objective cards. Take the combination that contains the Advanced Class tile
matching the discipline of the drawn card, if possible. If not, take the combination that
contains the Book token matching the discipline of the drawn card instead. After selecting,
return this and the remaining Objective cards to the box.
11.Place the Scholar’s Student into the bag, the Advanced Class tile onto the bottom centre slot of
the solo board and the Book token next to the solo board.
You and the Scholar take alternating turns until the end of the game is triggered. This either happens
when the final space of the Sankoré Madrasa has a Sankoré tile placed on it as normal or after the
Scholar completes its 16th turn. The Scholar’s play is divided into 3 phases.
Each phase consists of a fixed number of turns. Each turn the Scholar will pick a “current discipline”
(either by drawing from the Scholar’s deck of Objective cards or from the cloth bag, depending on
the current phase). The Scholar will then take a number of actions (not necessarily 2), depending on
the current turn, the current phase, and your chosen difficulty level. The final action of each of the
Scholar’s turns will always be Teach a Class for the current discipline (see page 21).
The Scholar never gains or spends Gold, Salt, or Inspiration.
The Scholar keeps Books and Prestige tokens in an unlimited storage, next to the solo board.
SELECTING AREAS / DISCIPLINES Each turn the Scholar will have a “current discipline”. When completing
actions, it always prefers to select that discipline when possible. If it can’t
select the current discipline for any reason, it looks for the next area in an
anti-clockwise direction. This means that, if the current discipline is
Astronomy, it would next look at Theology, then Mathematics, then
Law. This includes when selecting a particular Sankoré tile or gaining a
Prestige token of a certain type.
Phase 1
PHASE 1 PROCEEDS FOR THE FIRST 4 TURNS
Each turn, flip the top card of the Scholar’s deck. The Prestige icon at the bottom of the Objective
card determines the current discipline for this turn. Place the card into the lowest-numbered card slot
around the outside edge of the solo board. The slot will show you which actions the Scholar will take
this turn before taking a Teach a Class action.
Phase 2
PHASE 2 PROCEEDS FOR 5 TURNS
Each turn, draw 1 Student meeple from the bag (which initially contains the 1 Student added during
setup and gains 4 more added during the 4 turns of phase 1). The discipline of the Student determines
the current discipline for this turn.
Place the Student on the leftmost empty space of the phase 2 row on the solo player board. Each space
shows an Advanced Class tile icon. After performing the Establish an Advanced Class action, place
the chosen Advanced Class tile into the lowest-numbered Advanced Class tile space on the solo board.
The slot will show you which other actions the Scholar will take this turn before taking a Teach a
Class action.
Phase 3
PHASE 3 LASTS UNTIL THE END OF THE GAME,
FOR A MAXIMUM OF 7 TURNS
At the start of phase 3, take all the Student meeples from the solo player board and place them in the
cloth bag.
Each turn, draw a Student from the cloth bag. The discipline of the Student determines the current
discipline for this turn.
Place the Student on the leftmost empty space of the phase 3 row on the solo player board. The space
will show which actions the Scholar will take this turn before taking a Teach a Class action.
20
Scholar Actions
Contribute a
Book to the Library
Gain Prestige
As an action, the Scholar gains a Prestige token of the current
discipline from the general supply and places it into its personal
storage.
Note: If no matching Prestige tokens are left in the general supply, it gains one matching the next
discipline in an anti-clockwise order.
As an action, the Scholar contributes a Book to the Library.
It does not contribute Books as part of teaching a Mathematics
or Law class.
Graduate a Student
Take a Book of the current discipline from the general supply, if possible. If there are no Books of that
discipline in the general supply, take one from the Scholar’s personal storage, which acts as a reserve in
case Books in the general supply run out.
As an action, the Scholar graduates the leftmost Student on the
phase 3 row of the solo board. Take the topmost Graduation tile
matching the chosen Student and place it above the solo player
board with the Student meeple on top as normal.
When placing a Book into the Library, choose a shelf according to the following priorities:
1.Secure a lead of 2 Books on a shelf where the discipline is already winning
(this includes a shelf where the discipline is currently winning a tie).
2.The shelf where the smallest number of books is required to win a majority on a shelf
(this includes winning a tie).
3.The uppermost shelf.
Enrol a student
by Discipline
As an action, the Scholar takes a Student meeple from a Queue
matching the current discipline, or the closest discipline if that isn’t
possible. It selects a Student meeple using the following priorities:
1.The outermost Student (the Student in each area that has no other Student to its right)
matching the current discipline.
2.If tied, pick the Student in the current discipline’s area, or the nearest area in an anti-clockwise
order.
Place a Sankoré tile
As an action, the Scholar takes a Sankoré tile matching the current
discipline from the general supply (the tiles with a Prestige icon on
both sides) and places it into the Sankoré Madrasa. If the Sankoré Madrasa is already full, place the
Sankoré tile in the Scholar’s personal storage instead, it will count as an additional Prestige icon during
end-game scoring. The Scholar also gains a matching Prestige token from the general supply.
At the end of the Scholar’s 16th turn, if the Sankoré Madrasa is not yet full, keep adding Sankoré tiles
of the current discipline from the general storage until it is full. If there are not enough Sankoré tiles of
the current discipline remaining, add tiles matching the next discipline. The game is now over, proceed
to game-end and final scoring.
TIP
The game may end well before the seventh turn of phase 3 if the Sankoré Madrasa fills up sooner.
3.If no outermost Students match the current discipline, check the second Student from the right
and so on until finding the first matching Student that is the fewest spaces from the right and
closest to the current discipline’s area.
Teach a Class
4.If no Students matching the current discipline are available in any Student Queue, select a
Student matching the next discipline in anti-clockwise order.
Once a Student meeple has been selected, put it into the cloth bag.
The Scholar only completes the Area action part of the standard Teach a Class main action in the
current discipline. It does so by placing the corresponding piece in the current discipline’s area. If
the Scholar has no pieces remaining of the current discipline, it chooses the next discipline. For the
purpose of this action, this newly selected discipline is now considered to be the current discipline.
If that Student was not in the rightmost space of a queue, move the other Students left to fill the gap
just created.
The Scholar never spends Gold or Salt, or contributes Books to the Library as part of a Teach a Class
action.
Enrol a student by Area
As an action, the Scholar takes the rightmost Student meeple from
the Student Queue of the current discipline area, regardless of
that Student’s discipline. Place the selected Student meeple on the
Advanced Class tile that triggered this action.
If the Scholar has enough Knowledge for a space that would usually require a Supported Class, it does
so as described below without needing to meet any other requirements.
To decide where the Scholar places a piece, first calculate the Scholar’s Knowledge by summing the
Shared Knowledge and the Scholar’s School Knowledge for the current discipline.
Next, select a single unoccupied space to place the piece in using the following priorities until a single
location is chosen:
1.A region in which the Scholar can win the majority.
2.A region in which the Scholar can take the majority from you.
Establish an
Advanced Class
As an action, the Scholar takes an Advanced Class tile of the
current discipline and places it on the lowest-numbered Class space
on the solo player board. The space being filled will indicate which row to select the Advanced Class
tile from. This is the lowest row on turn 5, the second lowest on turn 6 and so on. The Scholar does
not have to contribute Books to the Library to take an Advanced Class tile.
3.The space of the highest value, using up to the total Knowledge*.
4.The region that comes first alphabetically (A, B, C, D).
*When the current discipline is Astronomy, the Scholar moves its Camel using Knowledge as a player
would and may start either in its current location or Timbuktu, whichever allows it to reach the most
preferential empty Oasis space (see example below).
If the current discipline is Mathematics, the Scholar flips the Sankoré tile nearest to the piece it just
placed.
If the Scholar’s Knowledge was sufficient to place the piece on a Supported Class space, the Scholar
also completes the Supported Class bonus as described below, depending on the current discipline.
21
PLAY EXAMPLE: TEACH A CLASS – THEOLOGY
PLAY EXAMPLE: TEACH A CLASS – ASTRONOMY
The current discipline is Theology and the Scholar has a total Knowledge of 3. The Scholar
can win the majority in any of the 4 regions by placing a Mosque in 1 , 2 , 3 , or 4 .
The current discipline is Astronomy and the Scholar has a total Knowledge of 9. The Scholar is
winning majorities in regions C and D with a single Trading Post in each, in spaces 1 and 2 .
Currently you are winning majorities in regions A and B, having placed higher value Trading Posts
than the Scholar in spaces 3 and 4 . The Scholar can now win the majority from you in either
region A or B. The highest value space is the ‘13’ space in Tripoli 5 , so it selects that ahead of
the ‘11’ space in Fez 6 . The Scholar’s Camel can reach that space by using Knowledge to move,
either from its current location 2 or from Timbuktu.
It chooses region C, as it can take the majority from you. It places a Mosque on the 3 space 3 .
It takes the Book and places it in its personal storage. The Scholar does not spend Salt.
6
5
3
1
3
22
2
4
4
1
2
Supported Class Bonuses
PLAY EXAMPLE: TEACH A CLASS – LAW
ASTRONOMY
The current discipline is Law and the Scholar has a total Knowledge of 8. This means that it can
place its Crown in a space that would normally require a Supported Class to be taught.
THEOLOGY
It therefore chooses the space that it can afford that will gain it the most Prestige tokens. Regions B
and D have 2 Prestige tokens each 1 , but the space in region D requires a Knowledge of 9 2 ,
so the Scholar places its Crown in the ‘7’ space of region B 3 .
The Scholar takes the Prestige token from the space in which it placed its Trading Post. If the space
offers a choice of token, the Scholar selects an Astronomy Prestige token, if possible.
The Scholar takes a Prestige token matching the discipline associated with the region in which it placed
its Mosque.
MATHEMATICS
1
If the row in which the Scholar just placed its Wall piece contains fewer Sankoré tiles showing the
Prestige icon than any other row, continue to flip the nearest Sankoré tiles until the row contains the
same number of Sankoré tiles showing Prestige.
3
LAW
Instead of following normal priority rules for Crown placement, the Scholar selects the space with
the most Prestige tokens that it can place in with its current Knowledge. If tied, it resorts to normal
priority order between them. When it places its Crowns, it adds all Books and Prestige tokens from the
linked Overflow space to its personal storage.
PLAY EXAMPLE: TEACH A CLASS – MATHEMATICS
The current discipline is Mathematics and the Scholar has a total Knowledge of 8. It places its Wall
piece in the 8 space of region B 1 . However, because it is teaching a Supported Class, it checks
the other rows to see how many Sankoré tiles are showing their Prestige icon in each row. The row
above contains 2 Prestige-side up Sankoré tiles 2 , so the Scholar flips the 2 nearest Sankoré tiles
3 to show their Prestige icons so that both rows have 2.
1
2
2
3
1
Game End
Proceed with the game-end and final scoring as normal. If you finish with more Prestige than the
Scholar, you have won the game!
23
Icon Appendix
Advanced
Class Tiles
Gain 1 Book of your choice
from the supply.
Gain 1 Salt and +1
Knowledge when you
Teach a Class with this tile.
Gain 1 Gold and +1
Knowledge when you
Teach a Class with this tile.
Gain 1 Gold and 1 Salt
when you Teach a Class
with this tile.
+2 Knowledge when you
Teach a Class with this tile.
Skill Tiles
Objective Cards
#3This allows you to spend a Book, Salt, or
Gold to place a Crown regardless of the
depicted cost. You still require Knowledge
for that space as normal.
#4You may move any of your existing Wall
pieces to any empty wall space up to 3
spaces higher in number. The new wall
space must be in the same region as the
original wall space. When you move the
Wall piece, you do not flip a Sankoré tile or
collect Gold.
#11The Student you Enrol is added onto
an unoccupied Student Space directly
above their Introductory Class. This does
allow you to take a student even if their
Introductory Class is occupied.
#21When you place a Wall piece you may
flip any tile in the Sankoré Madrasa, not
necessarily one along the same line of the
Wall piece you just placed. You gain the
bonus on the tile you flipped. You still gain
the Gold along the line of the Wall piece
you have just placed.
#23When you gain a new Student meeple,
you can take them from anywhere in the
Queue. You then slide any students to the
left to cover the gap, and possibly trigger
the effect of the rightmost slot just revealed
(not the effect on the slot you took the
student from).
Sankoré Tiles
You may Graduate a
Student as normal, but
without contributing a Book
to the Library (see page 12).
You may not select the active
Student.
Exchange a Favour, this
does not count as one of
your main actions.
Gain 1 Prestige token
of the matching discipline.
Gain 1
Gold
Gain 1
Salt
Transfer Gain 1 Book matching Promote
a Student the discipline that this a Student
(page 13) Skill tile is assigned to (page 13)
with no cost
with no cost
Return a
Favour
Gain 1 Book of
any discipline
Gain 1
Inspiration
Gain the Prestige token depicted
Miscellaneous Board Icons
Placing a Trading
Post here allows
you to place a Wall
piece on any Wall
space, including
the special Wall
space in the Mathematics Area
(shown here). Also gain 1
Prestige token.
When placing a
Wall piece into
the Mathematics
area:
1.Gain the effect shown on any Sankoré tile in the
same row or column as your new Wall piece.
2.Flip over the tile.
3.Gain 1 Gold for each Gold icon showing in the
same row or column.
+3 Knowledge when you
Teach a Class with this tile.
You may perform a Promote
a Student bonus action with
any Student except the active
Student.
Advance twice
on the Favour
track
Advance once
on the Favour
track
Activate all of your Skill
tiles in a discipline of
your choice
Exchange
a Favour
Gain 1
Inspiration
Placing a Mosque here allows you to place one of
your Students (of the discipline depicted) on one
of the Theology spaces in the Sankoré Madrasa.
When you do so, gain Prestige tokens matching
the Student’s discipline equal to the number of
matching Prestige icons showing in the Sankoré
Madrasa.
Student Queues
Add the Prestige token on this space to the Oveflow space in the Law Area
Majority Scoring
(Prestige)
Place the Sankoré tile depicted
in the Sankoré Madrasa
Majority
Scoring (Book)
Exchange
a Favour
Favour Track
Gain
1 Gold OR
1 Salt
Gain Enrol a Student
1 Book
(from any
position on any
Student Queue)
Gain
2 Gold
Establish an
Gain
Advanced Class 2 Salt
for free (do not
contribute a Book)
Gain 1
Inspiration
Gain
3 Gold
Gain
3 Salt
Gain 1
Prestige
token
Graduate a
Gain
2 Books Student for free
of any (do not contribute
a Book)
discipline